


Early Birthday

by androgynousclintbarton



Category: Naruto
Genre: Fluff, M/M, unending fun little things that Kakashi and Gai do on vacation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:49:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28449453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/androgynousclintbarton/pseuds/androgynousclintbarton
Summary: Kakashi has a yearly tradition of spending December 31st with Gai to celebrate his birthday a day early. This year is no different, even if they are on vacation together.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Maito Gai | Might Guy
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27
Collections: KakaGai Week 2020 entries





	Early Birthday

**Author's Note:**

  * For [alumort](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alumort/gifts).



It was early. Far too early for Kakashi to be awake, most days. Outside the window he could see splashes of orange and red painting the sky above, Signaling the beginning of a new day.

A rare sight for him to see. Even rarer since his retirement had been made official. Most mornings he would lay in bed cuddling up to Gai for as long as the other man would allow.

Today, though, was a special day.

December thirty-first, the day before Gai’s birthday. For everyone else it was a day of preparation for tomorrow when they would celebrate the beginning of a new year. 

For Kakashi, it was his day to celebrate Gai’s birthday with him. A tradition that they had started when they were still kids. Long before the missions became overwhelming and Anbu stole almost all of Kakashi’s time. 

A day just for the two of them. When Kakashi could celebrate Gai’s birthday without too many other people around, Gai would get a day just for him. No mentions of the new year, and the festivals wouldn’t get into full swing until the next day so they could just enjoy some games and treats without the streets being too crowded. A day to celebrate his birthday and nothing else, as it should be.

It wasn’t a tradition that they really had to keep anymore, since they were both retired and on vacation visiting some old spots with fond memories for the both of them. The only people that would be joining them for Gai’s birthday, other than Mirai and Tatsumi who were already with them, were Tenten and Lee. Both of whom had told them their intentions to join upon finding out that the pair’s vacation would be happening during their Sensei’s birthday.

Not an unwelcomed addition to their day, but one that did help Kakashi decide to keep with their old tradition. 

Now all he had to figure out was what exactly to do for Gai’s early birthday. 

Gai had provided him with a short list of things that he wanted to do for their day together. Some of them were basic, easy to do activities. Others required a bit more thought to make sure they were executed perfectly.

Which was why Kakashi was up at such a ridiculous hour in the morning, while Gai was still sleeping soundly in his futon. There was a lot that he had to plan out, and he wanted it all done before Gai woke up.

Taking one more look over the list, he groaned when he saw the last request.

_ One Meal – Just the two of us. _

An easy enough request to fulfill any other day. Unfortunately for them, they were on vacation with Saratobi Mirai acting as their bodyguard.

Determined to prove herself a capable shinobi, Mirai refused to let the pair out of her sight no matter how often Kakashi asked her to relax. The only time that they had managed to find away from her so far was in the hot springs, thanks largely to the gender split. A restaurant would have no such restrictions, so Kakashi was going to have to find another way to convince Mirai to leave them alone for an hour or two.

Perhaps Tatsumi would be able to give him a hand. She and Mirai had become close in the short time that they had known each other.

“Kakashi?” Gai’s sleepy voice rang through the small room, pulling his attention away from his work and over to the futon where Gai was now sitting up rubbing his eyes. “You’re up early.”

“Keen observation there, Turtle.” Setting his pen down, Kakashi turned to face his husband and smiled. “I was just figuring out some things for today.”

“Mmmm.” Dropping his hands down onto his lap, Gai looked back at him with the beaming beautiful smile that always made him feel warm deep inside his chest. “And what’s the first thing that we have to do?”

He didn’t need to look back at the list to know the answer to that question. It was the same thing that he did every morning before Gai got out of bed to do his daily stretches.

Morning cuddles.

Standing up from his seat, he made his way over to Gai’s side and carefully crawled into his husband’s arms with a happy hum.

He would figure out how to get Mirai to leave them alone for a few hours. After he met his daily cuddle quota.

  
  


** One Competition **

One of the easier requests for Kakashi to figure out that morning. Competitions were a staple of their relationship. Something that Kakashi expected to happen once a week, minimum.

The only hard part was figuring out a competition that was new and exciting. Something that they had never had the chance to do before.

An answer came to him when he remembered that for once they were out of the village and there was a new year’s tradition they could take part in for once.

“Postcards?” Gai had a confused look on his face as he watched Kakashi lay out the postcards on the table between them. “Our competition is writing postcards?”

“Not all of our competitions can be physically active. At our age we have to keep our brains in tip-top form as well, don’t you agree?”

Gai contemplated it for a moment while glancing at all of the postcards that Kakashi had picked out. “So a competition of our writing skills it will be.” Picking up the pen Kakashi had set down for him, Gai beamed. “What are the parameters for this competition?”

“The winner will be decided on who can write the best postcards, with Mirai as judge of course.” He pointed at the chunin where she sat off to the side with Tatsumi, watching them with a bored expression. “And to keep it fair and interesting, I made it so we’re both writing to Kurenai, since that will be a big decider for Mirai.”

“I’ll be grading you twice as hard on that one,” Mirai assured them, an amused smirk pulling at the corners of her lips. “It could be the deciding factor for your whole competition, so think carefully about what you write.”

It had only been a week and she was already learning to relax and have a bit of fun. Perhaps she had gotten a bit of Asuma’s personality after all.

“I will create the most thoughtful, touching postcards that you have ever read in your life!” Gai declared with pride. “You will taste defeat today, Rival, and I will take the lead once more.”

Resting his chin on his hands, Kakashi rolled his eyes. “Technically you’d be tying, since I won the ping pong match.” The twitch in Gai’s left eye did not go unnoticed, even if he didn’t respond verbally to Kakashi’s jab. “But we’ll see. Are you ready?”

“Of course I am.” Gai’s smile grew even wider, somehow. “My postcards will have Mirai weeping tears of happiness.”

He could practically feel Mirai dying just at the thought of crying in front of them.

“Whatever you say, Turtle.” The sounds of Gai sputtering while he flipped over his first postcard and began to write were a sweet victory of their own.

**Get some Dango**

The results of their competition were no surprise to Kakashi. Although he had put a lot of thought and effort into his postcards, Gai had always been a little better than him with words.

There was a reason he had picked that competition particularly. It was a nice change of pace from what they usually did, and there was no doubt in his mind that Gai would win.

Even if Mirai had made it a closer competition than he expected, choosing Gai as the winner only after reading their postcards to her mother.

In the end Gai got the win and the bragging rights for the day, which meant it was time for request number two. 

Finding a dango shop in the small village was harder than he had expected, but with a little help from some locals he had managed to do it. So now he, Gai, Mirai and Tatsumi were sitting in a small shop hidden away in an alley, each holding a stick of dango.

Gai didn’t waste any time, popping the first dango ball into his mouth with a satisfied hum. 

“This is a… tradition of yours?” Mirai gave him a skeptical look, holding her own stick of dango in front of her face. “You don’t seem like the kind of person who likes sweets, Lo—”

One hard look from Kakashi stopped Mirai from finishing the last bit of her sentence. The last thing that he needed was his day out with Gai ruined because someone overheard that the Sixth Hokage was around.

He wanted a nice relaxing day. That wasn’t too much to ask, was it?

Still, Mirai did deserve a response to her inquiry. 

“Sweets aren’t a favourite thing of mine,” he confirmed even as he reached up to take off his mask. “But today’s not about me.” One dango ball. That’s all he was going to be able to manage this time, which gave Gai two extras.

Sinking his teeth into the top ball on his stick, Kakashi cringed when the overwhelmingly sweet taste hit his tongue. One was definitely enough for him. Any more and he was likely to be sick. 

At least Gai seemed to be enjoying himself as he devoured his dango happily. 

Everything was going perfectly as planned so far.

  
  
  


**Reminisce about their childhood**

After their dango stop, the small group made their way to the village shrine to pay respects. Something that Gai usually only did when he was with Kakashi, or when someone he cared about was badly injured.

It didn’t take long for them to reach the shrine, and with a quick bow at the Torii gate Gai and Kakashi headed in to purify themselves, leaving Mirai and Tatsumi waiting for them at the gate.

Once their hands and mouths were clean, Kakashi took care of washing down the ladle’s handle, and they made their way towards the shrine.

As always, Gai put some ryo into the coin box for the both of them and smiled up at Kakashi. He never let Kakashi put in his own coins, but he certainly expected him to ring the bell for them. It was the only thing that he always made Kakashi do when they were together.

Giving the bell a ring, he took a step back to take his place at Gai’s side once more. Two claps in unison, and then the pair bowed.

After that, Kakashi lost track of time as they stood there paying their respects in silence. Nothing new for him, but a little embarrassing when he felt Gai’s hand on his arm.

“Sorry,” he chuckled. “Guess we should get going.”

“We still have a lot to do today.” Gai nodded his head in agreement. “What did you have planned for us next?”

“You’ll just have to wait and see.” Taking a step behind Gai’s chair, he laid his hands on the handles and waited for Gai to give his permission, or refuse the gesture.

Another quick nod told Kakashi that he was good to go, so he took hold of the wheelchair handles and directed Gai away from the shrine. 

“Are we going to get to see the fireworks tonight?” Mirai piped up when they reached the front gate, concern etched on her face. “I’ve never missed the fireworks before.”

“They’re the most beautiful thing about bringing in the new year,” Tatsumi beamed. “I can’t imagine missing them.”

“We wouldn’t dare miss the fireworks,” Gai assured the pair with a proud smile. “We haven’t missed seeing the fireworks together since…”

It took a moment of thought for Kakashi to come up with the answer that Gai was looking for, but once he had it he couldn’t help but smile.

“My last year in Anbu,” he supplied. “I was in Konoha due to a bad case of chakra exhaustion. I was supposed to stay in the hospital, but Asuma convinced the doctors to let him carry me to the spot you had all planned to meet. Used the ‘I’m the Hokage’s son’ card to get his way in the end.”

It had been rather embarrassing at the time, holding onto Asuma for dear life while he jumped from roof to roof. Now, though, he’d give anything to have Asuma there with them to do it all over again.

“You let my dad… carry you?” There was a look of disbelief on Mirai’s face. “Around Konoha?”

“Didn’t have much of a choice,” he admitted with a shrug of his shoulders. “He told me Gai would be sad if I didn’t join them, and threatened to tell Gai about my crush.”

At the time, it wasn’t worth the risk.

“He ended up telling me two years later,” Gai chuckled fondly. “Just before you got your team.”

A fond smile tugged at his lips when the memory of that night came up. There were a lot of things he’d thought could happen if Gai ever found out about his feelings for him, but somehow Gai grabbing his face and kissing him while his mask was still on had not been one of them.

Seeing Mirai coming to a stop in the corner of his eye, Kakashi halted where he was and turned to look at her. It was a little worrying, seeing her standing there with Tatsumi by her side while she drummed her finger against her chin. Something was clearly on her mind, he just had no idea what it was.

Thankfully, where he failed at picking up emotional cues, Gai more than made up for it. One look at his husband’s soft kind smile told him that Gai knew exactly what was on the chunin’s mind.

“We should stop for a cup of tea,” Gai suggested, his smile only growing when Mirai glanced up at him. “It’s better to talk about old memories and friends with a warm drink in hand.”

Kakashi couldn’t remember a time during this whole vacation when Mirai had smiled as brightly as she did here and now.

As always, his husband knew just what to say.

  
  
  
  


**Dinner- Just the Two of us**

Full of tea and old stories about her dad, Mirai was surprisingly relaxed when Kakashi pulled her off to the side just before they left the tea shop to talk about that dinner that Gai wanted.

It wasn’t a perfect situation that they had come to an agreement on. Mirai and Tatsumi would still be in the same restaurant and she refused to budge on that, but they would be on the other side of the place. Or at least as far away as possible. 

Not a perfect victory, but a victory nonetheless. Kakashi wasn’t going to try and argue any further. Mirai had her mother’s stubbornness and he knew as well as anyone from their friend group that Kurenai’s stubbornness was not something you tried to face down. You were not going to win that fight.

Stepping inside the restaurant, Kakashi searched out two tables as far away from each other as possible. Once spotted he directed Mirai and Tatsumi to the left side of the place, and led Gai away towards the right with a playful wave goodbye.

Dinner alone was procured, and it hadn’t been nearly as bad a headache as he had thought it would be that morning. Maybe Mirai was starting to unwind a bit more than he had originally thought. Something he couldn’t help but attribute to Tatsumi’s presence.

“They’re cute.” He chuckled when he heard Gai’s commentary. “I think Mirai really likes Tatsumi. It’s a good match.”

“We’re on vacation, Gai,” he reminded his husband. “Not here to play matchmaker with our friend’s daughter.”

“We can do both.” Stopping beside their table, Kakashi pulled one of the chairs away and shoved it towards an empty table nearby, reminding himself to replace it after they were done with their meal. With Gai’s spot now free, he headed to the other side of the table and pulled out his own chair. “Don’t tell me you don’t think they’re cute together.”

Flopping down into his chair, Kakashi groaned. “That’s not what I’m saying,” he argued. “I just don’t think it’s our place to meddle. Mirai is a kid. She has a lot of time to figure things out for herself.”

He could tell from the look on his husband’s face that he wasn’t going to be put off so easily by Kakashi’s explanation, but he stood firm in his beliefs on this one. Mirai had a lot to learn before she should be focusing on something as big as dating.

“Let’s talk about it later, hmm?” he offered instead of attempting to shut down the conversation completely. Clearly it was something that Gai wanted to discuss. “Dinner, just the two of us. That includes conversation does it not?”

Thinking about it for a moment, Gai smiled back at him and picked up the menu sitting in the middle of the table. “You didn’t tell me what kind of place we were going to,” he stated, opening the menu to take a look at all of the options they had. “And the name isn’t much of a giveaway.”

Rather than answering, Kakashi waited a moment for Gai to have a quick look at the menu. It wasn’t a personal favourite of his, but today wasn’t about him. Plus, he knew that if he ended up with anything he wasn’t going to eat that Gai would take care of it for him. 

“C-curry?” Gai looked back at him with surprise. “You took us out to a curry place?”

“It’s your birthday,” he reminded his husband, knowing full well that Gai’s birthday wasn’t actually until tomorrow. “We’re celebrating you, so we should have your favourite food.”

“And what about you?” Gai inquired. “You’re the picky eater here, and you’re not particularly fond of curry.”

‘Not fond of’ was putting it lightly. He actually hated curry quite a lot because of the mixture of textures. It never sat well with him, but he never went in without a plan.

“Look at the soup menus.” He smiled, watching as Gai did as instructed and returned his attention to the menu. “I thought ahead for myself, Turtle. Don’t worry about that.”

“Thirty-four years,” Gai grumbled under his breath, his eyes locking onto Kakashi once again. “You’ve been using that nickname for thirty-four years, Kakashi. Are you ever going to find a new one?”

“Are you ever going to stop calling me ‘rival’?” There’s an unimpressed look in Gai’s eyes just before he returns his attention to the soup menu. “Well then, why should I give up my nickname for you? Especially when there are still days where I come home and you’re hiding away in your old tortoiseshell pillow.”

Even with his face half hidden by the menu Kakashi can tell that his words have managed to embarrass his husband, which is perfect in his opinion. It wouldn’t be a nice dinner out if they didn’t embarrass each other.

That was half of what their entire relationship was about. Seeing who could be the most embarrassing shit ever created. Their students hated it, or at least his students did. Lee and Tenten had stopped caring after the first year of being on Gai’s team and seeing the pair of them interact.

“It’s the comfiest pillow that we have.” Gai’s voice perked up, clearly having finally noticed the miso soup on the menu. “And it blocks out the sun when I have a migraine.”

There was a reason Kakashi had bought him that pillow for his 20th birthday, shortly after Gai had gotten his first migraine. He had wanted something that would help him keep the sun away from his eyes, and had just happened to be walking past a store with a giant red tortoiseshell pillow. He hadn’t really thought much about buying it at first until the shopkeeper showed him that there was an opening in the middle for a ‘child’ to crawl into.

Even then he’d had no doubt Gai would find a way to fit into that giant tortoiseshell pillow. Even if he was technically too big to fit without contorting his body in new and ridiculous ways.    


  
  
  


**See the Fireworks together**

Gai hadn’t actually had to write this one down on their list of things to do together today. As they had told Mirai, seeing the fireworks together was a tradition. There were few things in the world that could make them miss it.

Finding the perfect roof to watch them from, Kakashi watched as Mirai lifted Tatsumi into her arms and headed up ahead of them. Maybe Gai was onto something about the two of them. Tatsumi had looked more relaxed there in Mirai’s arms than she did most of the time she was with their little group.

“You find a place?” He glanced over at Gai, watching as he moved his wheelchair to the side of the little shop they would be sitting on top of and flipped the brakes on. 

“It should be fine here,” Gai confirmed, holding his arms out towards his husband. “You going to do the honours, Rival?”

Keeping any witty comments to himself, Kakashi stepped up to his husband and turned on his heel so that he was facing away from him. Moving down onto one knee he smiled when Gai leaned forward and secured his arms around his neck. Once he was sure Gai was holding on tight, he reached back and tucked his arms under Gai’s legs. 

“You ready?” he asked even as he stood up and took a few steps forward before turning towards the roof.

“Is there ever a time when I’m not?” 

Taking that as his answer, Kakashi turned to face the building and moved into position. The wind rushed through his hair as he jumped up towards the rooftop, and a smile pulled at his lips when Mirai rolled her eyes upon seeing them.

It was like she was just starting to realize that she wasn’t just a bodyguard, but she was also stuck on vacation with her embarrassing uncles. 

“Later.” Gai flicked him in the nose, laughing when he glared down at him just as he landed on top of the roof. “You can be as embarrassing as you want later. After the fireworks.”

“Oh, please don’t give him permission,” Mirai protested, groaning when Kakashi gave her a playful look. “Mom wasn’t exaggerating when she told me this was going to be the most embarrassing time of my life…”

Kakashi made a mental note to have a talk with Yuhi ‘purposefully embarrassed him in front of his crush for years just because she could’ Kurenai about what she was saying to her daughter. 

He wasn’t embarrassing.

“You’re embarrassing.” Unfortunately Gai was still sitting comfortably on his back, so it was a little hard to give him a proper unimpressed look when he spoke up. “Ok, correction, we’re embarrassing.”

Well, at least he wasn’t the lone embarrassing adult now. 

Stepping up to the edge of the roof, Kakashi carefully knelt down beside Mirai and waited for his husband to let go of his neck and take his seat. With Gai no longer on his back, he moved off to the side and took his seat beside his husband. 

“How long?” he asked, eyes already glued on the sky above.

“One minute,” Mirai answered. “This is a tradition of yours, right?”

“Has been for years,” Kakashi confirmed. “Sometimes one of us couldn’t make it because of a mission or injury, but when we were both available we’d go to see the fireworks together. Spend the day together just like today too, if possible.”

They were some of the fondest memories that Kakashi had. Just being able to spend time with Gai and their other friends. Even when Gai got his team and the three of them started to spend the fireworks with them as well, Kakashi had always looked forward to that time with his best friend and partner. Whoever else joined them didn’t matter much to him, as long as he was there with Gai.

Of course, he enjoyed everyone else's company as well. Asuma’s endless jokes, Lee’s insistence that one year he would beat Kakashi to saying ‘Happy Birthday’ to Gai before anyone else. How Neji had started bringing dango in his place after he had been so late one year that he hadn’t had time to stop for any. Even Tenten’s constant teasing was a welcomed experience to the yearly fireworks show.

“Well, I guess it has to be said.” Kakashi’s eyes widened when he heard Mirai’s words. This wasn’t going to happen. He couldn’t let it… “Hap—”

Reaching behind Gai, he slapped a hand over Mirai’s mouth before she could finish what she was trying to say.

“He’s very protective of his right to say it first.” Gai chuckled when Mirai looked at him for help. “No one else is allowed to take it from him.”

With a roll of her eyes, Mirai sat back a bit and crossed her arms over her chest. Her eyes flickered over to Kakashi, waiting for him to say what he wanted to so she could continue.

With his words now saved for him, Kakashi turned his attention back to Gai and smiled just as the first firework shot into the night sky and exploded bright green and silver colours all over the sky. “Happy Birthday, Turtle.”


End file.
